El BeiSMan Art Notes

Antonio ZavalaPublicado 2016-02-26 01:28:26

Tres Américas Books. Photo: Antonio Zavala

Tres Americas Books to close/ Humberto Gamboa and Carlos Cabrera have managed Tres Americas Books, at 4336 N. Pulaski Road, for 27 years but in two weeks the bookstore will close its doors. Gamboa had open-heart surgery last November. He is recovering and said he has decided to close this book venue that houses hundreds of books in the Spanish language, perhaps the biggest bookstore of its kind in the United States. “I’ve been a book seller for 33 years,” Gamboa told this column. Gamboa, who hails from Tepehuanes, Durango, Mexico, and came to Chicago in 1966, first worked for six years at the now disappeared Europa Books where he learned the book trade. He then, along with Cabrera, opened Tres Americas Books at Irving Park and St. Louis streets before relocating to its present location. A Spanish language sign at the storefront reads “Aproveche los descuentos. Son los últimos días de la librería Tres Americas.” This means “Take advantage of the discounts. These are the last days of Tres Americas Books.”

Nestora Salgado. Photo: proceso

Woman’s Day benefit for Nestora Salgado/Community Defense comandante Nestora Salgado has been sitting in a Mexican jail since 2013 since the Mexican government came up with fraudulent charges against her in Olinalá, Guerrero. The local Justicia en Ayotzinapa Comité Chicago hosts a benefit event for Salgado titled “International Women’s Day” on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at Centro San Martín, 1916 S. Ashland Avenue, in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. There will be women speakers, videos on Salgado’s struggle, refreshments and music. Everyone is welcome. Centro San Martín is across from St. Pius Church, by the parking lot.

Lucy Gonzalez Parsons. Photo: The Nation

Salute to Lucy Gonzalez Parsons/EL BeiSMan Art Notes salutes Lucy Gonzalez Parsons, wife of Albert Parsons, one of the Chicago Martyrs hanged in Chicago in 1877. Eight organizers, most of them German immigrants, were unjustly convicted and sent to the gallows. One committed suicide in jail, three others were sent to jail and four were hanged after the Haymarket Incident on May 3, 1886. Gonzalez defended her husband and the others and went on a national speaking tour. Later on she also led marches for the hungry, the unemployed and for union rights. She also helped found important organizations to promote the 8-hour day. She was fighting the 1% long before most of us were born.

Voces migrantes. Cover: Roy Villalobos

Voces migrantes book presentation/The book Voces migrantes Movimiento 10 de Marzo, a new book by activists Omar López Zacarías, Carlos Arango Juárez and Jorge Mújica Murias, will be presented at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th Street, Chicago, IL, on March 10, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The book contains an account by each author of the historic immigration march that took place in Chicago on March 10, 2006. The book is published by El BeiSMan Press.

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Antonio Zavala is a freelance writer who lives in Chicago and writes about the people and neighborhoods of Chicago.